Derrick O'Connor Movies

This courtroom drama centers on a team of attorneys as they try to figure out a way to defend an unusually beautiful woman who has been accused of infanticide. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi

In the first episode of a two-part story, Sydney (Jennifer Garner) is in Paris, poised to foil the sinister schemes of Khasinau (Derrick O'Connor). Also in the City of Light is Will (Bradley Cooper), who has teamed with Jack (Victor Garber) to locate "Deep Throat." Meanwhile, Sloane (Ron Rifkin) is forced to sit in on the discussions to eliminate his wife, Emily (Amy Irving). And as things come to a boil, both Vaughn (Michael Vartan) and Dixon (Carl Lumbly) are forced to into difficult decisions regarding Sydney. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Erstwhile "James Bond" Roger Moore guest stars as Edward Poole, an SD-9 leader who has startling information about a turncoat in the Alliance of Twelve. Elsewhere, Sydney (Jennifer Garner) is not the only one who is astonished to find her own image on a sketch drawn 500 years earlier by the prophetic Milo Rambaldi. The text surrounding the sketch is partially decoded, revealing an ominous message regarding the fate of the world. Alas, the key to the entire code is locked somewhere in the Vatican -- compelling Sydney to prevail upon Vaughn (Michael Vartan) to pull off his most daring burglary. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Brazil constitutes Terry Gilliam's enormously ambitious follow-up to his 1981 Time Bandits. It also represents the second installment in a trilogy of Gilliam films on imagination versus reality, that began with Bandits and ended in 1989 with The Adventures of Baron Munchausen. To create this wild, visually audacious satire, Gilliam combines dystopian elements from Orwell, Huxley and Kafka (plus a central character who mirrors Walter Mitty) with his own trademark, Monty Python-esque, jet black British humor and his gift for extraordinary visual invention. The results are thoroughly unprecedented in the cinema.

Jonathan Pryce stars as Sam Lowry, a civil servant who chooses to blind himself to the decaying, drone-like world around him. It's a world marred by oppressive automatization and towering bureaucracy, and populated by tyrannical guards who strongarm lawbreakers. And Lowry is stuck in the middle of this nightmare. Whenever real life becomes too oppressive, Sam fantasizes (to the tune of Ary Baroso's 1930s hit "Brazil") about sailing through the clouds as a winged superhero, and rescuing beautiful Jill Layton (Kim Greist) from a giant, Samurai warrior. The omnipresent computer that controls everything in the "real" world malfunctions, causing an innocent citizen to be arrested and tortured to death. When Sam routinely investigates the error, he meets - and pursues Jill , literally the girl of his dreams. But in real life, she's a tough-as-nails truck driver who initially wants nothing to do with him. It turns out that she is suspected of underground activities, in connection with a terrorist network wanted for bombing public places. The price Sam pays for his association with her is a close encounter with the man in charge of torturing troublesome citizens (Michael Palin). He is rescued - at the last minute - by maintenance man Harry Tuttle (Robert de Niro) who moonlights as a terrorist, but that only represents the beginning of his plight, for now the "system" is onto him.

Gilliam ran into enormous problems with Brazil. Universal - which produced the picture - originally slated it for release in 1984, but the studio - intimidated by the film's whopping length of 142 minutes - demanded that Gilliam trim the film to bring it in under two hours and alter the pessimistic ending. Gilliam refused; Universal shelved the picture for a year. In response, the director took out a full page ad in Variety asking studio president Sid Sheinberg when the film would be released. Sensing tremendous pressure, Universal bowed to Gilliam's insistence on fewer cuts but still demanded a happy ending. Gilliam trimmed only eleven minutes and altered the conclusion just slightly (instead of cutting to black, it fades into puffy white clouds on a blue sky, with a reprise of the title tune). It was thus released in early 1985 at 131 minutes, and of course became a seminal work; many critics regarded it at the time as the best film of the eighties. ~ Nathan Southern, Rovi

The financial and personal dealings of high finance set the stage for this drama. The London branch of Whitney Paine, a major American investment bank, is in the midst of a crisis; after the loss of $100 million, one of their leading traders, Tony Eisner (Simon Slater) commits suicide by putting a slug through his head while seated at his place in the board room. Despite the high stakes, many of the firm's staff are eager to step into Tony's now-vacated shoes and get credit for saving the company. Daniel Pascoe (Paul McGann), the leading trader at the firm, is convinced that he's first in line for the assignment, but the firm imports a new trader from America, Anna Schuman (Rebecca DeMornay). Daniel is enraged and makes a point of trying to dig up as much dirt on Anna as he can (which, given her extra-curricular activities with dealers from other firms, is a considerable amount), but the longer Daniel and Anna work together, the more he finds himself attracted to her. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

1999 proved a banner year for screen portrayals of Satan's love life: first his relationship with Saddam Hussein went under the microscope in South Park: Bigger, Longer and Uncut, and a few months later his search for a girl to settle down with became the basis of this thriller. With the millennium approaching, a series of disturbing signs suggests that Satan (here played by Gabriel Byrne) has returned to Earth and is walking the streets of New York City. It seems that Satan needs to find a woman who will bear his child, as the time for the arrival of the anti-Christ draws near. A woman named Christine (Robin Tunney) believes that she has seen the Devil and felt his presence, and it's up to Jericho Cane (Arnold Schwarzenegger), a former policeman turned elite bodyguard, to keep her safe from The Dark Lord. End of Days was both directed and photographed by Peter Hyams; Kevin Pollak, Renee Olstead, and Udo Kier are among the supporting cast. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

Its title dripping with sarcasm, Honest, Decent and True strikes a few more-than-glancing blows at the advertising industry. The scene is a British brewery, where the conservative executive board bemoans a steady loss of revenue. Into this rarefied atmosphere bursts a team of yuppie ad copywriters, who have as little interest in truth as they have in tradition. The hidebound brewery execs are appalled at the near-obscene excesses of the company's new ad copy--but business suddenly begins to boom. Made for British television, Honest, Decent and True made its American bow on the Arts and Entertainment cable service. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

A young woman at a crossroads in her life finds herself receiving plenty of advice from her older and wiser counterparts in this drama. Finn Dodd (Winona Ryder) is a graduate student trying to finish up her doctoral thesis on women's folk art while deciding if she should marry her fiancé Sam (Dermot Mulroney); she's not sure if she's ready to settle down, and suspects that Sam is unfaithful to her. Needing time to sort things out, Finn chooses to spend the summer with her grandmother Hy (Ellen Burstyn) and great aunt Gladys Jo (Anne Bancroft). Hy and Gladys Jo are avid quilters, and with a group of their friends, they work on a special quilt for Finn's wedding; as the women work together, they share stories of their lives, and Finn finds herself learning as much from hearing them talk as she does from her schoolwork. Finn also receives a visit from her free-spirited mom Sally (Kate Capshaw) and finds herself infatuated with a good looking young man who lives nearby. Maya Angelou plays one of the quilters, as do Kate Nelligan, Jean Simmons, and Alfre Woodard. How to Make an American Quilt was the directorial debut of Jocelyn Moorhouse, and was based on a novel by Whitney Otto that itself began as a doctoral thesis. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

When a prison volunteer and a convicted murderer who is serving a life sentence meet and fall in love, despite all the problems involved in the relationship, the couple decide to challenge the criminal justice system. ~ Tana Hobart, Rovi

Monk (Tony Shalhoub) sets about to locate the world-famous Alexander diamond, for which a million-dollar reward has been offered. Quickly absorbing the clues at hand, Monk deduces that the diamond was stolen by Danny Chasen (Daniel Browning Smith). Alas, Chasen has already been murdered, so Monk is forced to chase down several other leads, most of them leading nowhere. Meanwhile, the folks at police headquarters have their hands full with a persistent nutcase named Jennie Mandeville (Jamie Brown), who habitually confesses to crimes that haven't taken place--or have they? Much of the action is devoted to the exploits of retired Scotland Yard detective St. Claire (Derrick O'Connor), a techno-happy detective named Rufus (DJ Qualls), and an oafish bounty hunter named Dirk (Tyler Mane), suggesting that this episode may have been intended as the pilot for a spinoff series. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

The two-part British miniseries Soul Survivors was all about second chances. Ian McShane was cast against type as Otis Cooke, a disc jockey on a Liverpool soul music station. After the cancellation of his radio program , Otis whimsically headed to America in hopes of reuniting his favorite soul band, The Tallahassees (whose big hit was, appropriately enough, "Pickin' Up the Pieces"). In bringing the singers back together, Cooke reasoned that somehow he'd give his own life some meaning. Real-life musician Isaac Hayes co-starred as the Tallahassees' contrary lead singer Vernon, while other roles were filled by Derrick O'Connor, Antonio Fargas, Taurean Blacque, and Scott Wilson. The two 90-minute installments of Soul Survivors were seen over BBC 2 in 1995, and later re-edited into a single 125-minute feature. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

The Sweeney started out as a British TV detective program all about Scotland Yard's Flying Squad. Its popularity spawned a reasonably satisfying 1976 feature film, starring the TV series' Tom Thaw. In Sweeney 2, Thaw is called upon to solve a series of carefully orchestrated bank robberies, which turn out to be the handiwork of an elite team of crooks headquartered in a posh Maltese apartment complex. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi